Cast and Director's Q and A with Audience

Celebration of Independence and Content.

About The Festival

Get Ready Houston Cinephiles!!

Next International Film Festival (NIFF) popularly known as NIFF HOUSTON was founded by Next Actor Film School of Houston in 2015 to celebrate high art and diversity in cinema in a 4-day event in Houston. Niff Houston International Film Festival is a cultural, not-for-profit organization, with a penchant for stories that express socio-political events of the world through the language of cinema.

Houston, the 4th largest city in the nation, often misses out on the large number independent and foreign films, which are screened in New York and L.A. Before Niff, the film students' only means to good independent and world cinema have been those that were run at River Oaks Theatre or that were distributed in the States via Netflix and Amazon. The non-distributed American indies or foreign films are hardly seen outside of film festivals. Houston, unlike Austin, unfortunately did not have a central film festival where the film fraternities could enjoy these must-watch works of art.

Since 2005, Next Actor Studio, a center for visual and performing arts in Houston, has been hosting movie night for the faculty and alum by screening first cuts of films by student filmmakers and movie club with films from Kieslowski and Ray to Jarmusch and Soderbergh. The idea to start a film festival with works of talented filmmakers outside of the studio came about in 2014, and the first festival was successfully held in 2015, exposing the audience to an elevated cinematic sensibility through visual medium.

Houston is the 4th most populous city in the USA, known for its influx of unique diversity of culture, where over 90 languages are spoken. This makes the city the right place to hold an international film event, where artists of different cultures and communities can voice their sensibility and feelings through moving pictures. Besides, Next Actor Studio has a vibrant audience who truly appreciate works of art and they alone can fill the theatres and keep the filmmakers busy with their dialogue.

This year, the festival will run from October 25 - 28. Submission opens on Jan 4, 2017 on Withoutabox and Film Freeway. The first mixer will be held in April by invitation.